Energy Efficiency

Andrew Turner: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what assessment the Commission has made of the extent to which heating and ventilation systems in each building on the parliamentary estate  (a) are controllable by individual users,  (b) are energy efficient and designed to prevent heat leakage and  (c) maintain comfortable temperature and humidity levels in varying weather conditions; and what plans exist to improve such systems.

Nick Harvey: A cyclical programme of surveys is carried out on parliamentary estate buildings and their services. Consultants are currently undertaking detailed surveys of the building services in the Palace of Westminster. A feasibility study is under way to explore methods of renewing the existing heating and ventilation system which is now largely 50-years-old for the Palace of Westminster. There are also plans to carry out building services surveys and option studies for the major refurbishment of the heating and ventilation systems of Canon Row, Derby Gate and Norman Shaw North in the near future.
	The House authorities are aware that the heating and ventilation systems on a number of the buildings on the parliamentary estate are reaching the end of their economic life.
	 (a) Local control of radiator temperatures is only available in some areas of the parliamentary estate.
	 (b) The majority of buildings on the parliamentary estate were constructed in the 19th century when energy efficiency was not a major design consideration and much of the building stock is inherently energy inefficient. Work is currently in place to explore ways to enhance the buildings' energy efficiency.
	 (c) A programme of services upgrade works is ongoing across the estate to renew plant and services.

Rurality

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will discuss with his Cabinet colleagues means of enabling the provision of departmental data broken down according to his Department's definition of rurality; and if he will make a statement.

Barry Gardiner: A research project co-sponsored by several Government departments and other bodies resulted in the publication of the "National Statistics Rural and Urban Definition 2004". This new rural definition identifies the different types of settlements in which people live in rural areas. The definition can be used with other information, such as housing type, car ownership and household incomes to give a valid means of understanding how these measures vary within rural areas.
	The new definition is accepted across Government, and is recognised as the Government standard by the Office for National Statistics. It was agreed after a public web-based validation exercise, and marks a big step forward in developing our evidence base and statistical toolkit for rural areas.
	I have written recently to Ministers to promote the further use of the Definition in their Departments' work.

Farm Subsidies

Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what the total level of subsidies given by the Government to farmers in Wales was in each of the last ten years; and what each figure represents per farmer.

Peter Hain: The Welsh Assembly Government have published provisional figures for subsidies paid out to Welsh farmers in 2005. I have made this document available in the Members' Library. The final figures will be published in due course. Equivalent information for the preceding nine years can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
	The Welsh Assembly Government are committed to ensuring greater transparency in the publication of farm subsidy data. Accordingly, it recently announced its intention to publish such data by postcode. The data will also be subdivided to show the breakdown between all claims submitted under the 2005 single payment application form.

Child Support Agency

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the  (a) reviews and  (b) consultations relating to the Child Support Agency undertaken since 1997; and the total cost of each to his Department.

James Plaskitt: The information is not available in the format requested as the current accounting system of the Department for Work and Pensions does not enable us to associate costs to individual or discreet activities. Such information as is available is as follows:
	The following reviews have taken place since 1997:
	Review by Stephen Geraghty, Chief Executive of the Child Support Agency between April and December 2005.
	Sir David Henshaw redesign took place between February and July 2006. Estimated costs for this review were published on page 66 of the report "Recovering child support: routes to responsibility". (Cm 6894)
	The following consultation exercises have taken place since 1997:
	The Child Support Green Paper, CHILDREN FIRST: a new approach to child support (Cm 3992) was published in July 1998.
	The Child Support White Paper—A New Contract for Welfare: Children's Rights and Parents' Responsibilities (Cm 4349), published on 1 July 1999.
	A fresh start: child support redesign—the Government response to Sir David Henshaw (Cm 6895), published on 24 July 2006.

Financial Assistance Scheme

Jonathan Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate the Government have made of the cost of extending the financial assistance scheme in line with the recommendations from the parliamentary ombudsman's report on occupational pension schemes.

James Purnell: We estimate the cost of implementing the ombudsman's recommendations to be between £13 and £17 billion, in cash terms, over 60 years ( or between £2.9 billion and £3.7 billion, net present value).

Judo

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she has taken to resolve the dispute between the Bristol Judo Association and the Save Independent Judo campaign; what further action she proposes; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Caborn: The Save Independent Judo campaign has written a number of letters to the Department about the development of the UK Coaching Certificate (UKCC) in Judo and the role of the British Judo Association (BJA). In June, I replied, explaining that I had asked my officials to look into the issues raised. In August, I provided a substantive reply, clarifying some of the background and the role of sports coach UK and the BJA in taking the issues forward.
	Save Independent Judo has continued to correspond with the Department. We have ensured that sports coach UK, who are responsible for developing and implementing the UKCC, UK Sport and Sport England are aware of their various concerns. We will continue to work with these organisations to ensure that, where appropriate, these issues are addressed.

London Olympics

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what locations in the London Borough of Bexley  (a) were considered to be used to stage an event and  (b) are being considered for training sites for athletes for the 2012 London Olympics.

Richard Caborn: In order to host a compact Olympic games and Paralympic games as required by the International Olympic Committee, venues for the 2012 London games are, wherever practical, situated as close as possible to the Olympic Park in the Lower Lea Valley. As a result no facilities within the London borough of Bexley were able to be considered as competition venues.
	The London Organising Committee for the Olympic games and Paralympic games (LOCOG) is preparing a pre-games training guide in which facilities that they have approved as providing a suitable training environment in the UK are listed by location and by sport. The development of this guide will be overseen by a steering group, made up of organisations such as the British Olympic Association, the British Paralympic Association, the English Institute of Sport, UK Sport and the home nation sport councils.
	Venues from around the UK, including those situated within the London borough of Bexley, are invited to apply to host pre-games training camps through the LOCOG website:
	<http://www.london2012.com/en/gettinginvolved/trainingcamps/Applicationprocess.htm>
	Applications will initially be assessed on a national or regional basis, and the deadline for facilities to submit their interest is 31 January 2007. Final selection will take place by January 2008 and the guide will be distributed to national Olympic committees and national Paralympic committees in summer 2008.

Business Start-ups

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many new business start-ups there were in  (a) the East of England,  (b) Suffolk and  (c) Bury St. Edmunds constituency in each year since 1997.

Margaret Hodge: Value added tax (VAT) registrations and de-registrations are the best official guide to the pattern of business start-ups and closures. DTI data on the number of VAT registrations, and the start of year stock of VAT registered businesses, in East of England Government office region, Suffolk county and Bury St. Edmunds constituency from 1997 to 2005 are shown in the following table. Data for 2006 will be available autumn 2007.
	
		
			  VAT registrations and start of year VAT stock 
			   1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006 
			  East of England   
			 Registrations 18,330 17,540 16,845 17,630 16,655 17,820 18,735 17,815 17,790 n/a 
			 Stock 162,430 166,865 170,695 173,515 176,310 177,735 180,080 182,705 184,525 187,625 
			
			  Suffolk County   
			 Registrations 2,035 1,890 1,855 2,060 1,885 2,100 2,160 2,085 1,915 n/a 
			 Stock 20,835 21,265 21,535 21,765 22,145 22,300 22,610 22,935 23,240 23,460 
			
			  Bury St. Edmunds( 1)   
			 Registrations 295 270 270 325 260 325 320 345 320 n/a 
			 Stock 3,185 3,250 3,320 3,345 3,420 3,440 3,535 3,580 3,665 3,720 
			 (1) Parliamentary constituency.   Source: Business Start-ups and Closures: VAT Registrations and De-registrations 1994-2005, Small Business Service, available from http://www.sbs.gov.uk/vats 
		
	
	Although number of registrations in Bury St. Edmunds constituency have remained fairly constant, the start of year stock has risen by 17 per cent. over the period.
	VAT registration and de-registration data do not capture all business activity. Businesses are unlikely to be registered if their turnover falls below the compulsory VAT threshold, which has risen in each year since 1997. Similarly, businesses that de-register may not have closed. Only 1.8 million out of 4.3 million businesses (42 per cent.) were registered for VAT at the start of 2005.

Departmental Childcare Facilities

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether there are waiting lists for places at child care facilities which his Department provides for its employees.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The DTI does not hold long-term waiting list for places for the DTI play-schemes. If the DTI play-schemes are over subscribed on any given day, a list of requests for that date is kept on a first come first served basis. If a place becomes available, the place is offered to the next child on the list.

Afghanistan

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his estimate is of the total number of deaths of combatants and non-combatants in Afghanistan since October 2001; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: holding answer 18 October 2006
	The most accurate figures available for the deaths of coalition and allied troops are on www.icasualties.org/oef. As of 17 October, the total number of deaths of coalition and allied troops was 496.
	We have no reliable means of ascertaining the numbers of Afghan combatants or non-combatants killed, but the UK makes every effort to minimise the impact of military action on the Afghan population. Similar principals apply in northern Helmand as for Afghanistan in general.

Helicopters

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many  (a) Apache,  (b) Chinook,  (c) Merlin and  (d) Lynx helicopters were in regular service in Afghanistan (i) at the start of the war and (ii) at the latest available date.

Adam Ingram: holding answer 19 October 2006
	As announced on 26 January 2006,  Official Report, column 1529, 18 helicopters were to be deployed to Afghanistan: eight AH-64 Apache attack helicopters; four Lynx light utility helicopters; and six CH-47 Chinook support helicopters. The additional deployment of two CH47 Chinook helicopters was announced on 24 July 2006,  Official Report, column 76.

Northern Ireland

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many troops he expects to be based in Northern Ireland on operational duties in 2007.

Adam Ingram: Under the updated Security Annex to the Joint Declaration published by the Government in August 2005, the number of armed forces personnel (Navy, Army and RAF) based in Northern Ireland on operational duties under Operation BANNER is planned to reduce from some 8,050 as at 15 September this year to no more than 5,000 by 31 July 2007.
	Under the terms of the updated Security Annex, and assuming a continuing enabling environment, there will be a permanent peacetime garrison of no more than 5,000 based in Northern Ireland after 31 July 2007. This will reflect the Government's global defence commitments, although some Northern Ireland or Great Britain based personnel will continue to provide a residual level of Army support to the police (for example, providing specialised ordnance disposal and, if needed, support for public order as described in Patten recommendations 59 and 66). The number of troops needed for these operational tasks will naturally depend on Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) requirements, but I very much welcome the PSNFs increasing ability to carry out their tasks without military support and look forward to this continuing.

Pensions

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the cost of public sector pensions as a share of gross domestic product in  (a) 1980,  (b) 1990 and  (c) 2000; what forecast he has made of the equivalent cost in (i) 2010, (ii) 2020, (iii) 2030, (iv) 2040 and (v) 2050; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what recent estimate he has made of the total share of public spending which will be accounted for by public sector pensions in  (a) 2035 and  (b) 2045;
	(3)  what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of public spending on public sector pensions in each year from 1980-81 to 2050-51; on what assumptions for  (a) the discount rate and  (b) longevity these estimates are based; when these assumptions were last updated; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: Current estimates and future projections (over the next 50 years) of public service pensions as a share of GDP and of total public spending are available in the two Long Term Public Finance Reports published in 2004 and 2005. Comparable historic figures could not be provided without disproportionate cost.
	A note by GAD and HMT on the assumptions used for the unfunded pension projections in the LTPFR was laid in the House of Commons Library in June 2006.

Financial Inclusion

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps his Department is taking to improve levels of financial inclusion; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Balls: The Government's £120 million Financial Inclusion Fund is supporting new initiatives to increase access to banking, affordable credit and face-to-face money advice, with around 450 new money advisors. An independent Financial Inclusion Taskforce is monitoring progress and I will report to the House on next steps in the new year.

Millennium Development Goals

Iain Wright: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he had at the recent International Monetary Fund meetings on progress on meeting the millennium development goals.

Peter Soulsby: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he had at the recent International Monetary Fund meetings on progress towards the millennium development goals.

Edward Balls: This international community, and this Government, attaches the highest importance to assisting countries in meeting the Millennium Development Goals. In Singapore, at the time of the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank, this commitment was reinforced through: a pledge from donors to deliver on their Aid-for-Trade commitments; welcoming continued progress to a pilot Advanced Market Commitment for Pneumococcus by the end of the year; and further progress in developing plans for delivery of the education MDG in 17 countries, resulting in getting an additional 25 million primary school-aged children into school.

Firearms

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what average sentence was  (a) given and  (b) served for those convicted of possession of a firearm in each of the last five years.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	The table shows the average length of custodial sentence (excluding life) imposed by the courts for the various offences involving the unlawful possession of firearms in England and Wales for the years 2000 to 2004, the latest year for which figures are currently available. It is compiled on the principal offence basis. Although care is taken in collating and analysing the returns used to compile such figures, the data are of necessity subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. Consequently, although some figures may be shown to the last digit in order to provide a comprehensive record of the information collected, they are not necessarily accurate to the last digit shown. Data on average time served, which are obtained from the prison IT system, are not available separately for specific offences as accuracy at this level of detail cannot be guaranteed .We have started a programme of work in the Home Office looking at the quality of existing court sentencing and prison data and how this might be improved.
	
		
			  Average length of immediate custodial sentences (excluding life) for unlawful possession of a firearm at all courts: England and Wales 2000 to 2004 
			  Months 
			Average sentence lengths (excluding life) 
			  Offence  Statute  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004 
			 Possessing etc. firearms or ammunition without firearm certificate Firearms Act 1968 S. 1(1) as amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 S.157 Sch.8 16.5 19.2 18.1 21.7 20.7 
			 Possessing or distributing prohibited weapons or ammunition Firearms Act 1968 S.5(1) as amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 S.157 Sch.8 part III 18.7 18.7 21.3 27.3 35.1(1) 
			 Possession of firearms with intent to endanger life Firearms Act 1968 S.16 as amended by the Criminal Justice Act 1972 S.28(2) 43.8 57.8 52.6 63.5 69.2 
			 Possession of a firearm or imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence Firearms Act 1968 S.16A (as amended by Firearms (Amendment) Act 1994) 19.5 20.2 18.5 24.3 23.0 
			 Possessing firearm or imitation firearm at time of committing or being arrested for an offence specified in Schedule 1 of the Act Firearms Act 1968 S.17(2) as amended by the Criminal Justice Act 1972 S.28(3) 34.6 21.3 24.4 37.9 33.7 
			 Possessing firearm or imitation firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence or resist arrest etc. Firearms Act 1968 S.18(1) as amended by the Criminal Justice Act 1972 S.28(3) 30.2 45.3 59.2 55.4 58.8 
			 Possession of firearms by persons previously convicted of crime Firearms Act 1968 S.21(4) as amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 S.157 Sch.8 part III 11.8 10.1 16.5 18.9 17.5 
			 (1) A minimum five year sentence was introduced for offences committed from January 2004.   Notes:  1. Figures are compiled on the principal offence basis—see para. 3.13 of Appendix 3 of 'Sentencing Statistics 2004, England and Wales' (Home Office Statistical Bulletin No. 15/05).  2. Although care is taken in collating and analysing the returns used to compile such figures, the data are of necessity subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. Consequently, although figures are shown to the last digit in order to provide a comprehensive record of the information collected, they are not necessarily accurate to the last digit shown.   Source:  RDS NOMS 24-07-2006

Parliamentary Ombudsman

Chris Grayling: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs pursuant to her answer of 20 June 2006,  Official Report, column 1762W, on the Parliamentary Ombudsman, to which recommendations her Department has declined to give full effect.

Vera Baird: The two occasions where the Department has declined to give full effect to recommendations relate to the following two cases A7/03 and A16/03 made under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
	Information on these cases A7/03 and A16/03 is set out in the Ombudsman's report "Access to Official Information: Investigations Completed: November 2002—June 2003 (HC 951 July 2003)", and can also be accessed through the Ombudsman's website at http://www.ombudsman.org.uk/improving_services/selected_cases/AOI/aoi0306/index.html
	Copies of both of the above reports are available in the Libraries of the House.

Needle and Syringe Exchange

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many returns of used drug-taking equipment there were within the Needle and Syringe Exchange scheme in Northern Ireland in each of the last three years.

Paul Goggins: The drug-taking equipment that is issued to clients in the Needle and Syringe Exchange scheme is returned in black CinBins. The participating pharmacies in the scheme record the number of bins returns at each visit, but these bins are never opened and so the exact number of needles and syringes returned is not recorded.
	The following table shows the number of visits were the client has returned at least one bin, and the total number of bins returned.
	
		
			   2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			 Number of visits were the client returned at least one bin 4,450 4,010 3,872 
			 Number of bins returned 7,081 6,801 6,667

Adult Education

Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what representations he has received about Learning and Skills Council funding for adult education courses in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: Our records for the last 12 months indicate that we have received 506 pieces of correspondence on a range of FE funding issues including funding for adult education courses. This includes 237 letters from MPs which include correspondence forwarded from FE college principals and in addition to these letters we have received 14 letters directly from FE college principles on FE funding issues.
	Both I and my colleagues have regular meetings with providers and stakeholders and MP's including representative organisations such as the Association of Colleges and the Association of Learning Providers about adult education.

Early Years Education

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many free early years education places have been available in  (a) Suffolk,  (b) Norfolk,  (c) Essex and  (d) Cambridgeshire in each year since 1997.

Beverley Hughes: The available information on the number of part-time funded places filled by three and four year olds in Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire local authority areas is shown in the following tables.
	Since April 2004 all three and four year olds have been entitled to a free, good quality, early education place consisting of 12.5 hours per week for 38 weeks of the year. This will be extended to 15 hours a week by 2010 and by that time, parents who wish to do so will also be able to access the free entitlement flexibly across a minimum of three days.
	
		
			  Number of part time funded places( 1 ,2 ) filled by three and four year olds, local authority: Suffolk 
			   Part-time funded places filled by 3 year olds  Part-time funded places filled by 4 year olds 
			  Position in January each year  Maintained nursery and primary schools( 3)  Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers  Total 3 year olds  Maintained nursery and primary schools( 4)  Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers  Total 4 year olds 
			 1997 610 — 610 — — (5)7,400 
			 1998 560 — 560 — — (5)7,600 
			 1999 720 — 720 — — (5)8,000 
			 2000 630 (6)0 600 — — (5)8,000 
			 2001 860 (6)480 1,300 — — (5)7,600 
			 2002 1,000 (6)3,200 4,200 6,300 (5)1,600 7,900 
			 2003 1,100 (6)3,300 4,400 6,100 (7)1,700 7,800 
			 2004 1,300 (8)4,300 5,600 5,800 (9)1,600 7,300 
			 2005 1,300 (8)4,400 5,700 5,800 (9)1,500 7,300 
			 2006 1,300 (8)4,400 5,700 5,500 (9)1,500 7,000 
			 (1 )A place is equal to five or more sessions and can be filled by more than one child.(2 )Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 or 100 as appropriate.(3 )Headcount of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools' Census.(4 )Headcount of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools' Census.(5 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Nursery Education Grant data collection exercise.(6 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Nursery Education Grant data collection exercise.(7 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census supplementary data collection exercise and the Annual Schools' Census.(8 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged three at 31st December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census and the Annual Schools' Census.(9 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census and the Annual Schools' Census. 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of part time funded places( 1, 2 ) filled by three and four year olds, local authority: Norfolk 
			   Part-time funded places filled by 3 year olds  Part-time funded places filled by 4 year olds 
			  Position in January each year  Maintained nursery and primary schools( 3)  Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers  Total 3 year olds  Maintained nursery and primary schools( 4)  Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers  Total 4 year olds 
			 1997 1,500 — 1,500 — — (5)8,200 
			 1998 1,800 — 1,800 — — (5)8,400 
			 1999 1,900 — 1,900 — — (5)8,500 
			 2000 1,900 (6)0 1,900 — — (5)8,900 
			 2001 1,900 (6)130 2,100 — — (5)8,400 
			 2002 1,800 (6)3,000 4,700 6,600 (5)1,900 8,400 
			 2003 1,800 (6)4,300 6,200 6,500 (5)1,900 8,400 
			 2004 2,100 (8)4,400 6,500 6,300 (9)1,800 8,200 
			 2005 2,000 (8)4,100 6,100 6,200 (9)1,700 7,900 
			 2006 2,200 (8)4,700 6,900 5,900 (9)1,800 7,700 
			 (1 )A place is equal to five or more sessions and can be filled by more than one child.(2 )Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 or 100 as appropriate.(3 )Headcount of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools' Census.(4 )Headcount of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools' Census.(5 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Nursery Education Grant data collection exercise.(6 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Nursery Education Grant data collection exercise.(7 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census supplementary data collection exercise and the Annual Schools' Census.(8 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged three at 31st December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census and the Annual Schools' Census.(9 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census and the Annual Schools' Census. 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of part time funded places( 1, 2 ) filled by three and four year olds, Local Authority: Essex 
			   Part-time funded places filled by 3 year olds  Part-time funded places filled by 4 year olds 
			  Position in January each year  Maintained nursery and primary schools( 3)  Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers  Total 3 year olds  Maintained nursery and primary schools( 4)  Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers  Total 4 year olds 
			 1997 1,600 — 1,600 — — (5)14,000 
			 1998 1,900 — 1,900 — — (5)15,000 
			 1999 2,000 — 2,000 — — (5)15,200 
			 2000 2,000 (6)0 2,000 — — (5)15,100 
			 2001 2,000 (6)220 2,200 — — (5)15,100 
			 2002 2,000 (6)6,700 8,700 10,400 (5)4,700 5 15,100 
			 2003 2,000 (6)9,500 11,500 10,400 (7)4,600 7 15,000 
			 2004 2,000 (8)9,700 11,700 10,500 (9)4,500 9 15,000 
			 2005 1,900 (8)10,000 11,900 9,900 (9)4,500 9 14,400 
			 2006 2,000 89,900 11,900 9,900 (9)4,200 9 14,100 
			 (1 )A place is equal to five or more sessions and can be filled by more than one child.(2 )Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 or 100 as appropriate.(3 )Headcount of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools' Census.(4 )Headcount of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools' Census.(5 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Nursery Education Grant data collection exercise.(6 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Nursery Education Grant data collection exercise.(7 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census supplementary data collection exercise and the Annual Schools' Census.(8 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged three at 31st December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census and the Annual Schools' Census.(9 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census and the Annual Schools' Census. 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of part time funded places( 1, 2 ) filled by three and four year olds, local authority: Cambridgeshire 
			   Part-time funded places filled by 3 year olds  Part-time funded places filled by 4 year olds 
			  Position in January each year  Maintained nursery and primary schools( 3)  Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers  Total 3 year olds  Maintained nursery and primary schools( 4)  Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers  Total 4 year olds 
			 1997 1,100 — 1,100 — — (5)5,800 
			 1998 1,100 — 1,100 — — (5)6,500 
			 1999 1,200 — 1,200 — — (5)6,300 
			 2000 1,100 (6)0 1,100 — — (5)6,400 
			 2001 1,200 (6)870 2,000 — — (5)5,900 
			 2002 1,200 (6)1.500 2,700 4,700 (5)1,600 5 6,200 
			 2003 1,100 (6)2,700 3,800 4,600 (7)1,600 7 6,200 
			 2004 1,000 (8)2,800 3,800 4,500 (9)1,6009 6,100 
			 2005 980 (8)4,000 4,900 4,400 (9)1,300 9 5,700 
			 2006 1,100 (8)4,000 5,100 4,500 (9)1,500 9 6,000 
			 (1 )A place is equal to five or more sessions and can be filled by more than one child.(2 )Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 or 100 as appropriate.(3 )Headcount of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools' Census.(4 )Headcount of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools' Census.(5 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Nursery Education Grant data collection exercise.(6 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Nursery Education Grant data collection exercise.(7 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census supplementary data collection exercise and the Annual Schools' Census.(8 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged three at 31st December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census and the Annual Schools' Census.(9 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census and the Annual Schools' Census. 
		
	
	The latest figures on early education places for three and four year olds in England were published in Statistical First Release 32/2006 'Provision for children under five years of age in England—January 2006 (final)' in September, which is available on my Department's website at:
	www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/.

Faith Schools

Robert Walter: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of pupils attending  (a) primary schools and  (b) secondary schools in North Dorset are (iv) Buddhist, (v) Hindu and (vi) of no religion.

Jim Knight: The information requested is not collected centrally.

International GCSE

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what progress the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority has made on the comparability study between the GCSE and the International GCSE.

Jim Knight: The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) have completed their working paper on the comparability between the General Certificate for Secondary Education (GCSE) and the International General Certificate for Secondary Education (iGCSE). Now, with the agreement of Cambridge Assessment and Edexcel, QCA will be asked to publish its working paper, so that the Government can invite a wider debate within the education community on the iGCSEs use in the maintained sector.

IT Projects

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which information technology projects are being undertaken by  (a) his Department and  (b) its agencies; what the (i) start date, (ii) original planned completion date, (iii) expected completion date, (iv) originally planned costs and (v) estimated costs are of each; and if he will make a statement.

Parmjit Dhanda: The information as requested is not readily available centrally within the Department for Education and Skills. To respond fully would involve an extensive internal and external information collection exercise which would exceed the recommended disproportionate cost threshold.
	However, to be helpful, some historical information is available. Analysis of the Department's individual learning account (ILA) programme is given in the report: "The House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts (2003), Individual Learning Accounts, Tenth Report of Session 2002-03 (Ref: HC 544), TSO, London".
	An analysis of the Department's UK e-University Project is given in the report: "The House of Commons Education and Skills Select Committee (2005), UK e-University, Third Report of Session 2004-05 (Ref: HC 205), TSO, London".
	In addition, I refer the hon. Member to the answers given by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children, Young People and Families (Beverley Hughes) on 13 June 2005,  Official Report, column 192W, and 3 November 2005,  Official Report, column 1314W.

School Meals

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average cost of food used in a school dinner was in the latest period for which a figure is available.

Parmjit Dhanda: The average ingredient cost for a two course school meal in 2005/06 was 52p in primary schools and 67.2p in secondary schools. This data is taken from the "First Annual survey of take up of school meals in England" carried out by the School Food Trust. The full survey can be viewed at www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk

Student Loans

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  how many people owe money to the Student Loans Company, broken down by  (a) those due to repay,  (b) those with deferred repayments and  (c) those not in repayment;
	(2)  how many existing accounts at the Student Loans Company have been found to be non-compliant in relation to loan repayments.

Bill Rammell: The mortgage-style student loan system started in 1990 and new borrowing in that scheme ceased in 1998. Deferment is the feature of that now-closed mortgage-style loans system that protects borrowers during periods in which their earnings are below the repayment threshold. Loans in the income-contingent repayment scheme that was introduced from 1998 are not deferred: deductions stop automatically if a borrower's income falls below the threshold.
	Similarly, arrears in the student loans system almost exclusively apply to the closed mortgage-style system. Arrears denote that a borrower is behind with payments that they are due to have made: this does not arise in repayment of income-contingent loans through the tax system. The number of borrowers in arrears on mortgage-style loans, on which new borrowing ceased in 1998, represents 10 percent. of the total number of people who have borrowed under that scheme. 20 percent. of those in arrears were making repayments, but had not cleared their arrears. Included among the total in arrears at any given time, there are a number of borrowers who will be on the way to deferment status, but who have not yet completed the application process for deferment.
	The table shows UK publicly-owned student loan borrowers in March 2006.
	
		
			   Income-contingent loans  Mortgage-style loans  Total( 1) 
			 Due to repay 1,130.6 591.6 1,696.1 
			 
			  Of which :
			 Deferring repayments n/a 233.8 233.8 
			 Deferring repayment with arrears n/a 11.5 11.5 
			 In arrears owing less than two months' repayments 0.2 63.7 63.9 
			 In arrears owing two months repayment or more 0.2 47.4 47.6 
			 Not yet due to repay 1,263.8 0.9 1,264.7 
			 Total Borrowers(2) 2,291.1 592.5 2,848.8 
			 (1)Numbers in the total column count each borrower once only, including those borrowers with both types of loan. Therefore the totals are not necessarily the sum of their component parts.  (2) Constituent parts may not sum to the totals because borrowers may be counted in more than one category if they have loans in more than one status.   Note:  Numbers are in thousands.   Source:  Student Loans Company

Iran

Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether representations have been made to the Iranian ambassador to London on links between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Hizbollah in Lebanon; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: The United Kingdom continues to be deeply concerned by Iran's links with Hizbollah and takes every opportunity to raise this issue with the Iranian Government, most recently on 3 October when the Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office met the Iranian ambassador to London.

Iraq

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what evidence is available on the mortality rate in Iraq  (a) prior to the invasion in March 2003 and  (b) in the period from March 2003 to June 2006; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: Mortality estimation is extremely challenging in all developing countries. According to the World Health Organisation, only three out of 21 countries in what they term the "Eastern Mediterranean" region have complete vital registration, and Iraq has no such recent data available.
	The UN Population Division estimated that the crude death rate for Iraq was around 10 per 1,000 population in the second half of the 1990s. The UN Development Programme (www.undp.org) and World Health Organisation (www.who.int) also provide data on crude death rates. There is very little data available on child mortality, though UNICEF (www.unicef.org) has compiled data on under-five mortality in Iraq in the 1990's. Since 2003 there has been no comprehensive record of mortality rates in Iraq, though there are a number of estimations of the number of deaths caused by violence, eg Iraqi Ministry of Health, the Iraq Body Count, and surveys published by the Lancet Medical Journal. The Government of Iraq are currently making preparations to undertake a national population census, which would provide data on mortality, fertility, and migration.

Iraq

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions she has had with the government of Iraq on Assyrian Christian refugees from Iraq; and what measures could be taken to persuade them to return.

Kim Howells: Our embassy in Baghdad regularly lobbies the Iraqi government on the importance of supporting minority religious groups in Iraq.
	The Government's Voluntary Assisted Returns and Re-integration Programme offers a package of assistance to those Iraqis who wish to return home. 2,600 have so far taken advantage of this scheme.

Iraq

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions she has had with the government of Iraq about the persecution of Assyrian Christians in Iraq.

Kim Howells: We continue to raise the protection of minority groups with the Government of Iraq and with other Iraqi political and religious leaders, including Assyrians, and members of civil society organisations. During her visit to Iraq, in September, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary highlighted the importance of Prime Minister Maliki's government serving the rights of all communities across Iraq and addressing key issues of concern to particular communities which is an essential part of addressing the current levels of violence.
	The Iraqi Constitution contains provisions which guarantee democratic principles, rights and freedoms of all individuals, including the freedom of worship. We continue to encourage the Iraqi government to ensure these are protected.

Iraq

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions she has had with the government of Iraq on giving financial assistance to the Assyrian Christian communities within Iraq.

Kim Howells: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has not discussed with the Iraqi government giving financial assistance to any specific religious groups in Iraq.

Iraq

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has commissioned into the findings of the recent Lancet report on deaths in Iraq; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given by my noble Friend, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Lord Triesman of Tottenham, to the noble Lord, Lord Lamont of Lerwick, in another place  Official Report, columns 870-71.

Ministerial Visits

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans she has to visit the Philippines in 2007.

Kim Howells: At present there are no plans for my right hon. the Foreign Secretary to visit the Philippines in 2007.

Afghanistan

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what progress his Department is making on reconstruction in Afghanistan.

Hilary Benn: DFID has spent over £390 million on reconstruction and development in Afghanistan. The UK is Afghanistan's second largest donor DFID's budget for Afghanistan is £102 million for this year, rising to £113 million in 2007-08; and £115 million in 2008-09.
	Afghanistan remains one of the UK's top priorities and we have provided valuable support to the Government who have made great progress over the last five years: presidential and parliamentary elections were held. Six million children have returned to school, over a third of them girls. 13,000 girls' and boys' primary and secondary schools have been built and 15 teacher training centres have been established. 35,000 lives have been saved from routine immunisations. In 2005-06 the legal economy is estimated to have grown by 14 per cent. 3.5 million refugees have returned home. Major road rehabilitation is connecting major urban centres and Afghanistan with its neighbours. Reliable electricity supply is being restored. The telecommunications sector is growing fast, connecting businesses and people in Afghanistan,
	Over 70 per cent. of our aid goes directly to the Government of Afghanistan and UK is the largest donor to the Government's recurrent budget—covering annual costs such as salaries for teachers and health workers. This is exactly what the Afghan Government want—and is the best chance for building effective state institutions that will last.
	DFlD's programme in Afghanistan is trying to encourage sustainable growth and poverty reduction. Building state institutions, improving economic management and providing legal economic alternative to those involved in poppy cultivation are all critical to that objective DFID provides significant funding to support the National Priority Programmes of the Afghan Government, such as the National Solidarity Programme (NSP) and the Micro-finance Investment Support Facility of Afghanistan (MISFA), which bring direct benefits to poor people. The NSP is active in all 34 provinces of Afghanistan and is responding to priority needs identified by some of the most remote and poorest communities. MISFA is currently working in 18 provinces and plans to be active in all 34 by end of 2007.
	The reconstruction effort in Afghanistan is a long-term initiative. Achieving our objective of a peaceful, prosperous and secure Afghanistan, will be reliant upon the support and commitment of UK and other partners for many years to come

Departmental Travel

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much has been spent by his Department on  (a) chartering aircraft and  (b) non-scheduled air travel, in each of the last five years.

Hilary Benn: This information is not immediately available, and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, since 1999 the Government have published an annual list of all visits overseas undertaken by Cabinet Ministers costing £500 or more during each financial year. Where non-scheduled aircraft are used this is shown in the list. Information for 2005-06 was published on 24 July 2006 with copies of the lists available in the Library of the House
	All Departmental travel is undertaken in accordance with appropriate rules set out for Ministers and staff.

Ethiopia

Anthony Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what conditions relating to good governance his Department places on the distribution of development aid to Ethiopia.

Hilary Benn: DFID's programme in Ethiopia is subject to our conditionally policy, published in March 2005 This policy is applied in accordance with a commitment to three important development objectives: reducing poverty and meeting the millennium development goals; respecting human rights and other international obligations; and strengthening financial management and accountability, which reduces the risk of funds being misused through weak administration or corruption.
	Concerns about human rights and governance in Ethiopia, during the unrest which followed the elections last year, led the UK and other donors to stop providing the Government of Ethiopia with assistance in the form of direct budget support. In order to ensure that the poor do not suffer as a result of this decision we developed the protection of basic services grant which is accompanied by stringent measures to ensure transparency and accountability. The grant aims to protect the delivery of basic services, such as education, health, agriculture and water and sanitation, by local government in Ethiopia.
	We made a commitment in our White Paper, published in July this year, to conduct quality of governance assessments in partner countries, and we intend to do so in Ethiopia. We have a number of programmes in Ethiopia designed to promote better governance, and the assessment will help us to identify how these programmes might be strengthened.

HIV/AIDS

Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will commit funding to  (a) tracking and  (b) assessing grants made by his Department for the provision of HIV/AIDS services via sexual and reproductive health clinics in developing countries; and if he will encourage other aid donors to do the same.

Hilary Benn: Every DFID project or programme including, poverty reduction budget support, with an approved commitment of £1 million or over is reviewed annually to ensure that it is meeting its aims, In addition a project completion report is prepared during the last three months of the project or when actual expenditure reaches the 95 per cent. threshold.
	If a DFID funded programme was designed to integrate HIV and AIDS services into sexual and reproductive health clinics it would be 'tracked' with both AIDS and reproductive health markers through DFlD's Policy Information Marker System (PIMS). DFID has begun to review the elements of sexual and reproductive health, including HIV prevention, that are included in current/recent programmes that have a reproductive health PIMS marker.
	DFID encourages all donors to respect the international agreement reached around three core principles to improve co-ordination of the national response to AIDS. This is known as the 'Three Ones': one agreed HIV/AIDS action framework, one national AIDS co-ordinating authority and one agreed country-level evaluation system. The 'Three Ones' helps donors, multilateral the private sector and civil society to work together with national government in a more effective and harmonised way.

Engagements

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Hastings and Rye (Michael Jabez Foster) of 11 October 2006,  Official Report, column 291, on engagements, what the reasons are for the differences between the Prime Minister's answer and the figures for the number of patients waiting over 26 weeks at the end of August 2006 given in the Department of Health statistical press notice of 29 September 2006.

Andy Burnham: The six-month operational standard came into effect across the national health service from 1 January 2006. No patient should have to be waiting longer than this for in-patient treatment from the decision-to-treat date.
	Latest data for the end of August 2006 show that 115 patients less than 0.02 per cent. of a total waiting list of 769,461 were waiting over six months. This compares with 1997 when almost 300,000 people were waiting more than 15 months for their operations.

Mckinsey and Company

Jeremy Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what projects were undertaken by McKinsey and Company for her Department in  (a) 2004-05,  (b) 2005-06 and  (c) 2006-07, broken down by subject.

Ivan Lewis: holding answer 16 October 2006
	We do not always engage consultants on a project basis, but McKinsey and Co. were involved in the following workstreams for assisting the Department with national health service reforms in 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07:
	 2004-05
	Preparing case studies on implementing new financial flows and contracting arrangements for NHS Foundation Trusts. Two further projects were commissioned to assess international best practice in funding health care systems through payment by results, and evaluating wave one foundation trusts.
	 2005-06 and 2006-07 to date
	Assisting in developing a strategy for the Commercial Directorate's Commercial Advisory Board;
	Acting as advisors to the Commercial Directorate to assist in the development of the independent sector procurement programme;
	Assisting in developing and implementing the Department's internal high level review;
	Engaged in delivering waves one and two of the PCT fitness for purpose programme;
	Supporting the Department in assessing the impact of UK health system reform on clinical quality.

Methylphenidate

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations she has received relating to new research conclusions on the long term effects of methylphenidate; and if she will make a statement.

Andy Burnham: Methylphenidate is a stimulant drug that is authorised in children over six years of age as part of a comprehensive treatment programme for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Treatment should be under the supervision of a specialist. Clinical trials submitted at the time of licensing have examined the safety and efficacy of methylphenidate in children with ADHD who received treatment for up to 12 months.
	Since methylphenidate was first authorised in the United Kingdom, a range of representations regarding its safety profile have been received from Members of Parliament, patients and health care professionals. Some of these have specifically questioned the need for further research into its long-term safety profile but none have specifically provided information about the findings of new research.
	It is recognised that there is limited information about the long term efficacy and safety profile of methylphenidate. This is reflected in the product information, which advises that treatment should be discontinued periodically to assess the child's condition and that treatment should usually be discontinued during or after puberty.
	Stimulants such as methylphenidate are known potentially to affect weight gain and growth in children following long-term use. The product information, for prescribers and patients/carers and the British National Formulary contain warnings about this risk and advise that the child's weight and height should be regularly checked throughout treatment. A number of studies have been conducted to examine this issue and these inform current clinical guidance which recommends regular monitoring and treatment breaks in children who are not gaining weight or growing as expected.
	The longer term safety of the use of methylphenidate in routine clinical practice is closely monitored by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in conjunction with other European regulatory authorities. There are currently ongoing discussions at European level on whether further formal studies are required to extend the knowledge about the safety profile of methylphenidate, including the long term safety profile. As new data emerge it is carefully evaluated by the MHRA and where necessary current prescribing advice is updated to reflect the new evidence.

Methylphenidate

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what representations she has received on the breaching of National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines on the prescription of methylphenidate to young children; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  what estimate she has made of how many children  (a) are diagnosed as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and  (b) are receiving (i) prescribed medication, (ii) alternative treatments and (iii) a combination of such treatments.

Ivan Lewis: We have received no representations about the breaching of National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines on the prescription of methylphenidate to children.
	NICE recommended in March 2006 that drug treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) should only be initiated by an appropriately qualified healthcare professional with expertise in ADHD and it should be based on a comprehensive assessment and diagnosis. Continued prescribing and monitoring of drug treatment may be performed by general practitioners, under shared care arrangements. Information on the number of prescriptions issued for methylphenidate in the community for children aged 0-15 years and those aged 16-18 years in full-time education is in the following table.
	Information is not collected on the number of children diagnosed as having ADHD; nor how many are receiving  (a) prescribed medication,  (b) alternative treatments or  (c) a combination of such treatments.
	NICE has estimated that around five per cent of school-aged children meet the diagnostic criteria for ADHD, equivalent to 366,000 children and adolescents in England and Wales, but not all these children will require treatment.
	
		
			  Prescriptions issued for methylphenidate (Ritalin) for 0-15 years and 16-18 years in full-time education 
			  England  Number 
			 September 2001 to August 2002 215,000 
			 September 2002 to August 2003 274,000 
			 September 2003 to August 2004 320,000 
			 September 2004 to August 2005 341,000 
			 September 2005 to August 2006 384,000 
			  Notes:1. Data is for 0-15 year olds and those aged 16-18 in full time education.2. Data covers prescriptions prescribed by general practitioners, nurses, pharmacists and others in England and dispensed in the community in the United Kingdom. Source: PACT Data

Midwives

Brian Binley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for how long midwives may be absent from the profession before they need to be retrained in order to practice again.

Rosie Winterton: Midwives wishing to renew their registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council must meet the requirements of the "Nursing and Midwifery Council (Education, Registration and Registration Appeals) Rules Order of Council 2004". A copy of the order is available in the Library.
	The detailed requirements are set out in the PREP Handbook (2004) setting out the Nursing and Midwifery Council's post-registration education and practice standards.
	From August 2006, the PREP standard requires registrants to have practised for 450 hours in the three years prior to their registration expiring. If a midwife fails to meet this standard they will need to successfully complete a return to practice programme before being considered for re-entry to the register.

Nurses

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average starting pay for a newly qualified nurse was in each of the last 30 years in real terms.

Rosie Winterton: The available information is set out in the table.
	
		
			   Starting pay 
			   Cash( 1,2)  Real terms( 3) 
			 1977-78 2,563 11,166 
			 1978-79 2,776 10,890 
			 1979-80 3,368 11,307 
			 1980-81 4,198 11,922 
			 1981-82 4,450 11,537 
			 1982-83 4,998 12,101 
			 1983-84 4,998 11,564 
			 1984-85 5,398 11,866 
			 1985-86 6,000 12,506 
			 1986-87 6,475 13,073 
			 1987-88 7,300 13,955 
			 1988-89 8,025 14,341 
			 1989-90 8,565 14,285 
			 1990-91 9,335 14,436 
			 1991-92 10,230 14,908 
			 1992-93 10,820 15,276 
			 1993-94 10,980 15,108 
			 1994-95 11,320 15,344 
			 1995-96(4) 11,605 15,266 
			 1996-97 11,895 15,138 
			 1997-98 12,385 15,316 
			 1998-99 12,855 15,504 
			 1999-2000 14,400 17,023 
			 2000-01 14,890 17,358 
			 2001-02 15,445 17,587 
			 2002-03 16,005 17,678 
			 2003-04 16,525 17,725 
			 2004-05(5) 18,114 18,909 
			 2005-06 18,698 19,155 
			 2006-07 19,166 19,166 
			 (1) Starting pay for a newly qualified nurse is normally the minimum of the grade applicable to basic grade qualified nurses.  (2) The grades applicable to basic grade qualified nurses in the years set out in the table are as follows: 1977-78 to 1987-88—staff nurse 1988-89 to 2003-04—D grade 2004-05 to 2006-07—agenda for change band 5 Figures given are for the minimum of these grades in the year in question, including any staged increases.  (3) Real terms in 2006-07 prices.  (4) The starting pay given for 1995-96 is the rate for non-trust staff.  (5) The starting pay given for 2004-05 is the minimum of the agenda for change band 5 scale at the effective date of implementation of agenda for change on 1 October 2004.

Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what effect she expects the proposed changes to services offered by the Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath to have on the NHS South East Coast Strategic Health Authority deficit.

Andy Burnham: holding answer 23 October 2006
	NHS South East Coast is working with local people, local government and other stakeholders to produce plans for modern healthcare services that are high quality, safe as well as being clinically and financially sustainable. A document entitled "Creating an NHS Fit for the Future" was published in February 2006 and this detailed first steps in developing the strategy.
	The "Creating an NHS fit for the future" programme is being rolled out across Surrey and Sussex and Kent and Medway. In Surrey and Sussex it is concluding its discussion phase. If proposals emerge which recommend significant changes to the services provided, a full public consultation exercise will follow.

Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were admitted to the accident and emergency department of the Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath in each of the last three years.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 23 October 2006
	Information on attendances at and admissions via accident and emergency (A and E) departments is only collected centrally at trust level. The following table shows the number of attendances at, and admissions via, all types of A and E department for Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust for 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06.
	
		
			   Organisation  Number of admissions via A and E (all types)  Total A and E attendances (all types) 
			 2003-04 Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust 17,721 112,695 
			 2004-05 Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust 19,364 120,463 
			 2005-06 Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust 20,073 124,386 
			  Note:  Admissions data includes admissions via all types of A and E.  Source:  Department of Health dataset QMAE

Trust Deficits

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for St. Ives (Andrew George) of 4 September 2006,  Official Report, columns 2177-78W, on Trust deficits, when her Department's chief economic adviser was commissioned to undertake detailed analysis of the causes of NHS deficits; which individuals and organisations are supporting the analysis; when she expects the analysis to be completed; whether she has drawn any interim conclusions from the analysis completed thus far; and if she will publish the analysis when complete.

Andy Burnham: In his report on the financial position of the national health service at provisional outturn, 2005-06, published in June 2006 the Director General of Finance and Investment gave notice of his intention to ask the Department's Chief Economic Advisor to undertake further detailed analysis of the causes of deficits. The terms of reference for this work were finalized during the summer.
	The Chief Economic Advisor is working with economists and finance professionals within the Department of Health, the Health and Social Care Information Centre, the Centre of Health Economics at the University of York, and various NHS stakeholders (including PCTs and NHS trusts) to complete this analysis. We expect the work to be completed in the autumn. The Department will publish the findings of this study in due course.
	Independent Government auditors agree with our assessment that there is no single, simple cause of deficits, just as there are no single, simple solutions for eradicating them.

West Sussex Health Care

Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations she has received on the reconfiguration of health services in West Sussex.

Andy Burnham: Due to the way data is collected, the Department is unable to provide the number of letters received in relation to the proposed reconfiguration of health services in West Sussex.

Adult Defendants

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many adult defendants  (a) found guilty and  (b) given custodial sentences in court cases were (i) asylum seekers, (ii) illegal immigrants, (iii) legal immigrants not yet granted leave to remain in the UK and (iv) immigrants granted leave to remain in the UK, in each of the last five years;
	(2)  what percentage of  (a) adult defendants,  (b) adult defendants found guilty of offences and  (c) those given a custodial sentence in each of the last five years were (i) born in the UK and (ii) not born in the UK.

Liam Byrne: The information requested is not collated centrally and could be only provided at disproportionate cost.

Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what account is taken of the suppliers of animals used in laboratory experiments when assessing the compliance of facilities licensed to conduct such activities with regulatory requirements.

Joan Ryan: The use of animals in experiments and other scientific procedures is strictly regulated by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.
	Animals listed on schedule 2 to the 1986 Act may only be used if obtained from designated breeders and or suppliers. Schedule 2 lists: mouse, rat, guinea pig, hamster, rabbit, dog, cat, primate, quail, ferrets, gerbils, pigs if genetically modified and sheep if genetically modified.
	Such animals must, unless an exemption is granted, be obtained from designated breeders and suppliers in the United Kingdom. All of these designated breeders and suppliers are required to comply with the conditions of issue of a Certificate of Designation issued under the 1986 Act, to comply with Home Office codes of practice and are subject to regular inspection by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Inspectorate. All users must keep records of the source and disposal of protected animals. These records are available to the Home Office on request. Additional administrative controls require that, unless otherwise authorised by the Secretary of State, breeding and supplying designated establishments may only obtain animals of the types listed in schedule 2 from other designated sources. Applicants seeking permission to obtain such animals from non-designated sources are generally required to demonstrate that no suitable animal can be obtained from a designated source. Suitability may be determined by particular factors including strain, age, weight and health status.
	There are additional controls for the acquisition and use of non-human primates. Approval for the acquisition of non-human primates from overseas, or from other non-designated sources, will only be given if the conditions at the breeding or supplying centre are acceptable to the Home Office. The Home Office has detailed knowledge of the standards and practices of the overseas breeders that supply captive bred non-human primates to UK laboratories, in advance of their being used, and they are subject to periodic visits by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Inspectorate. Approval is also conditional upon life-time health records being supplied with the animals and made available to the Home Office upon request. Project licence holders must maintain and make available to the Home Office, on request, records relating to the non-designated centres from which the animals are obtained. Each batch of animals acquired from overseas must be separately authorised, and the transport arrangements must be acceptable to the Home Office. The Home Office must also be supplied with details of the health status of the animals on, and after, arrival at the designated establishment.
	Requests to use animals of the types specified in schedule 2 to the 1986 Act from non-designated sources are generally treated on a case-by-case basis, the Secretary of State being able to grant exemptions to the requirement that they be obtained from approved breeders in the United Kingdom when he believes this is justified.

Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many regulated procedures under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 were carried out in Scotland in 2005;
	(2)  what proportion of the regulated procedures conducted in Scotland in 2005 under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 were performed by  (a) public health laboratories,  (b) universities and medical schools,  (c) national health service hospitals,  (d) Government Departments,  (e) other public bodies,  (f) non-profit making organisations and  (g) commercial organisations;
	(3)  how many of the regulated procedures conducted in Scotland in 2005 under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 involved  (a) cats,  (b) dogs,  (c) rabbits,  (d) horses and other equids,  (e) new world primates and  (f) old world primates; and how many involved (i) genetically modified animals and (ii) animals with a harmful genetic defect;
	(4)  how many  (a) mice,  (b) rats,  (c) guinea pigs,  (d) hamsters,  (e) rabbits,  (f) horses and other equids,  (g) sheep,  (h) pigs,  (i) birds,  (j) amphibians,  (k) reptiles,  (l) fish,  (m) cats,  (n) dogs,  (o) new world primates and  (p) old world primates were used in regulated procedures conducted in Scotland in 2005 under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986;
	(5)  what proportion of the project licences granted under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 that were in force in Scotland at the end of 2005 were in the  (a) mild,  (b) moderate,  (c) substantial and  (d) unclassified severity banding;
	(6)  how many infringements of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 were recorded in Scotland at the end of 2005; and how many prosecutions resulted.

Joan Ryan: Comprehensive statistics of scientific procedures on living animals in Great Britain of animals carried out under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 are published annually. Copies of the publication for 2005 (Cm 6877) can be found in the Library.
	The data is not collected, stored or presented in a way enabling it to be easily broken down between England, Wales and Scotland as the 1986 Act is administered by the Home Office for the whole of Great Britain (it is administered separately in Northern Ireland). A special exercise has therefore been conducted to isolate the information requested in relation to Scotland.
	During 2005, 408,794 regulated procedures under the 1986 Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 were carried out in Scotland.
	During 2005, in Scotland, universities and medical schools carried out 62 per cent. of the regulated procedures under the 1986 Act, Government Departments 3 per cent., other public bodies 15 per cent. and commercial organisations 20 per cent. Public health laboratories, NHS hospitals and non-profit making organisations did not carry out any regulated procedures.
	During 2005, in Scotland, there were four regulated procedures involving cats conducted under the 1986 Act, 1,723 involving dogs, 6,938 involving rabbits, 69 involving horses and other equids, 79 involving new world primates, 1,306 involving old world primates, 128,561 involving genetically modified animals and 11,048 involving animals with a harmful genetic defect.
	During 2005, in Scotland, 267,960 mice, 49,284 rats, 2,944 guinea pigs, 774 hamsters, 3,016 rabbits, 69 horse and other equids, 5,294 sheep, 941, pigs, 7,854 birds, 238 amphibians, 56,993 fish, four cats, 1,308 dogs, 46 new world primates and 864 old world primates were used in regulated procedures under the 1986 Act. No reptiles were used.
	During 2005, in Scotland, 39 per cent. of the project licences granted under the 1986 Act that were in force at the end of 2005 were in a mild severity banding, 57 per cent. in moderate, 2 per cent. in substantial and 2 per cent. were in an unclassified severity banding.
	Five infringements of the 1986 Act were reported at designated establishments in Scotland during 2005. No prosecutions resulted.

Asylum/Immigration

Julian Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children are being held in immigration detention centres; how many of these have been held for more than three months; and how many are unaccompanied.

Liam Byrne: As at 25 March 2006, and rounded to the nearest five, there were 50 persons recorded as being under 18, detained solely under Immigration Act powers; of whom five had been in detention for more than three months. Information on the number unaccompanied minors detained is not held centrally and therefore unavailable.

Basic Command Units

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which local authorities are in each basic command unit area.

Tony McNulty: The boundaries of Basic Command Units (BCU) are determined by the responsible chief constable. I have placed in the Library a table detailing which local authorities constitute the whole or part of each BCU in England and Wales as at April 2006.

Car Boot Sales

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his Department's estimate is of the proportion of crime associated with car boot sales; and what steps he is taking to counteract such crime.

Tony McNulty: No estimates have been made of the proportion of crime associated with car boot sales.
	Although we are aware that many people greatly enjoy attending car boot fairs, they are one of the places used by criminals to profit from crime. A number of enforcement agencies including the police and trading standards routinely act to tackle crime at car boot sales, just as in other areas, but we recognise that it can be difficult to assert consumer and other rights, in such informal channels.
	In recognition of those difficulties, the Government are seeking to amend the Enterprise Act to enable public authorities to disclose information for civil proceedings. This will enhance the protection of Intellectual Property Rights and redress for consumer harm.
	We are also proposing to consult widely on how best to work with traders in second hand goods to disrupt markets for stolen goods. That consultation will also seek views on how best to work with the organisers of occasional sales such car boot fairs to reduce the opportunities for criminals to benefit from attending such events.

Community Call for Action

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what process will be followed if a councillor does not respond to a Community Call for Action under the provisions outlined in the Police and Justice Act 2006.

Tony McNulty: The Community Call for Action will enable local communities to trigger action by the police or other local agencies where they have failed to tackle persistent local crime or antisocial behaviour problems. Under clause 18(3) of the Police and Justice Bill ward councillors will be under a duty to respond to a call for action. We expect most problems referred to a councillor to be resolved informally through discussion with the relevant local agency with only the most difficult problems being referred to the local authority overview and scrutiny committee. Where a councillor decides not to refer a matter to the overview and scrutiny committee, clause 18(4) provides that the person raising the problem may refer it to the local authority executive for consideration. The council executive will have the same rights as the councillor to liaise with the relevant agencies and to refer difficult issues to the overview and scrutiny committee for resolution.

Convictions

Alex Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of cases of each category of crime, as reported to the police or other authority, resulted in a  (a) conviction in court,  (b) reference to a Youth Court and  (c) conviction in a jurisdiction outwith England and Wales in each year since 1999.

Tony McNulty: The information requested is not available centrally. The recorded crime statistics are based on offences and the court proceedings statistics are based on persons. As a result the two datasets are not directly comparable.
	Data on crimes reported to the police for the years requested is available in the Home Office publication, 'Crime in England and Wales' 2005-06, which can be accessed via the link http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/crimeew0506.html
	Data on Court Proceedings is available from our 'Criminal Statistics, England and Wales 2004' publication which is available via the web link http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs05/hosb1905.pdf. Data on Convictions broken down by category of crime for the last 10 years can be found in table 3.6 of the publication.

Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will answer the letter to his predecessor of 2nd May from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Juliet Kufvoz.

Liam Byrne: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 13 July 2006.

Crime Statistics (Suffolk)

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the recorded rate of crime was in Suffolk for  (a) burglary of dwellings,  (b) violence against the person,  (c) vehicle crime,  (d) robbery,  (e) sexual offences,  (f) total violent crime,  (g) theft and handling of stolen goods and  (h) criminal damage in each year since 1997.

Tony McNulty: The available information is given in the table.
	
		
			  Suffolk—recorded crime rates per 1,000 population( 1) 
			   Violence against the person  Sexual offences  Robbery  Violent crime  Burglary dwelling  Vehicle crime  Theft and handling  Criminal damage 
			 1997(2) 3.7 0.6 0.2 4.5 3.7 10.1 25.6 11.8 
			  
			 1998-99(3) 5.7 0.6 0.2 6.5 3.7 9.7 25.6 11.8 
			 1999-2000 7.9 0.6 0.3 8.8 3.5 9.7 26.0 14.2 
			 2000-01 9.5 0.6 0.3 10.4 3.3 9.3 25.5 15.0 
			 2001-02(4) 10.8 0.7 0.4 12.0 3.6 10.2 28.6 17.8 
			  
			 2002-03(5) 11.9 0.9 0.4 13.1 3.4 9.4 28.1 17.2 
			 2003-04 14.2 1.0 0.4 15.6 3.5 8.6 27.1 19.1 
			 2004-05 15.3 0.9 0.4 16.6 2.6 8.1 26.0 18.8 
			 2005-06 14.7 1.0 0.4 16.0 2.8 7.7 26.8 19.1 
			 (1 )Uses population data available at the time the recorded crime data was published.(2) The introduction of new counting rules and expanded coverage in 1998-99 means data not comparable with later years(3) The introduction of new counting rules and expanded coverage in 1998-99 means data not comparable with earlier years.(4 )The introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) in 2002-03 means data not comparable with later years.(5 )The introduction of the NCRS in 2002-03 means data not comparable with earlier years.

Criminal Justice

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his oral statement of 20 July 2006,  Official Report, column 472, on criminal justice, what estimate he has made of the effect on the prison population of ending  (a) the requirement that judges should automatically halve the minimum term when setting the earliest release date for those serving unlimited sentences,  (b) the automatic discount to those re-sentenced on appeal and  (c) the automatic one-third discount to those who plead guilty.

John Reid: The impact on the prison population of changes to the way sentences are calculated will depend on how these proposals are implemented. The Government intend to publish a consultation on a number of sentencing issues which will include estimates of the impact of the proposals. The Government do not intend to consult on changes to sentencing discounts for early guilty pleas, which is being considered by the Sentencing Guidelines Council, or for re-sentencing for unduly lenient sentences. The impact of these changes is currently being assessed.

Crown Courts

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals have escaped from Crown courts while on trial in each of the last five years.

John Reid: Details of the number of prisoners that escaped from Crown courts are set out in the table. They include prisoners who escaped while appearing for pre-trial hearings, trials and sentencing.
	
		
			  Escapes from Crown courts for last five years 
			   Number 
			 2001-02 11 
			 2002-03 7 
			 2003-04 8 
			 2004-05 9 
			 2005-06 6

Departmental Child Care Facilities

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what childcare  (a) provision and  (b) assistance is available to his Department's staff.

Tony McNulty: The Home Office provides childcare support as part of a range of worklife balance benefits for staff and in order to promote equality of opportunity. As part of the provision a limited number of subsidised workplace nursery and playscheme places are provided for staff in London, Croydon and Merseyside. The following table shows the nurseries and playschemes used. The Home Office also operates a Childcare Voucher Salary Sacrifice Scheme. The scheme was introduced in June 2005 and is now available to all Home Office staff, including those working for the Immigration and Nationality Directorate and the prison service. Identity and passport service staff have access to a 'salary plus' childcare voucher scheme. This provides eligible staff with childcare vouchers in addition to their salary to the value of £20 per week for pre-school children aged 0-4 and £15 per week for after school and holiday care for children aged 5-12. Additionally IPS staff is able to use the Home Office salary sacrifice scheme to enable them to obtain the maximum benefit from the tax and National Insurance exemption. A separate table setting out the nursery and playscheme provision is also shown.
	
		
			  Workplace nursery places  Location  On/Offsite  Number of places available 
			 Buffer Bear Network Central London and the South East Off site 32 
			 Sunbeam Nursery(1) Croydon On site 71 
			 Early Days Nursery Liverpool Off site 4 
		
	
	
		
			  Holiday Playschemes  Area  On/Offsite  Number of places (days) 
			 Westminster Holiday Playscheme Central London Off site (2)463 
			 Happy Hours Playscheme Crosby Off Site (2)15 
			 Sunbeam Playscheme Croydon Onsite (2)4,060 
			 Kidz Club Playscheme Liverpool Off site (3)15 
			 (1 )The Sunbeam Nursery will be closing in December 20006(2 )Use of the playscheme varies and places are generally provided on a 'first come first served basis' The figures provided are based on the number of days used by staff in the financial year 2005-06. year.(3 )As use of the playscheme varies an estimate has been provided based on usage of the scheme so far this

Departmental Travel

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to ensure that all flights undertaken by Ministers and officials in his Department are carbon neutral; and if he will make a statement.

Liam Byrne: All central Government ministerial and official air travel is has been offset from 1 April 2006. Departmental aviation emissions are calculated on an annual basis and subsequently offset through payments to a central fund. The fund purchases certified emissions reductions credits from energy efficiency and renewable energy projects with sustainable development benefits, located in developing countries.

Dorset Police

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what national police responsibilities are tasked to Dorset constabulary.

Tony McNulty: Under the terms of the Police Act 1996 each police authority in England and Wales is responsible for maintaining an efficient and effective force for policing its police area. Section 96A(4) of the 1996 Act sets out the national and international functions of the metropolitan police. No other police force has statutory national police responsibilities although individual chief officers lead for the Association of Chief Police Officers on particular policing and criminal justice issues. The allocation of these portfolios is a matter for ACPO.

EU Accession Countries Worker Registration Scheme

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when his Department next plans to review the working of the EU Accession Countries Worker Registration scheme; and when it next expects to publish a report.

Liam Byrne: In developing and implementing the Worker Registration scheme (WRS) we have sought to strike the right balance between the objective of monitoring the labour market impact of enlargement and avoiding unnecessary bureaucracy. The Government believes that the WRS has worked well to date as a means of monitoring impacts and as a safeguard against fraudulent access to benefits. However, we will continue to keep the scheme under review. The most recent accession monitoring report was published on 22 August 2006. The next accession monitoring report will be published towards the end of November 2006.

EU Veto

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether it is the Government's policy to retain the national veto on Justice and Home Affairs at European Union level under all circumstances.

John Reid: We welcome efforts to take forward EU co-operation in the Justice and Home Affairs field, in line with the Hampton Court delivery agenda. We would need to be fully satisfied that any changes to the existing arrangements would genuinely improve the decision making process, and that such a move would be in the UK's national interest.
	The proposal to change the current voting arrangements for police and judicial co-operation and move from unanimity to qualified majority voting was discussed by EU Interior and Justice Ministers at the JHA Informal Council in Tampere on 20-22 September and the JHA Council in Luxembourg on 5-6 October. A broad exchange of views took place, where there was limited support for the proposal.
	The Government also set out the concerns which the UK had about the proposal, many of which were shared by other member states. These featured prominently in the negotiations on the JHA aspects of the draft constitutional treaty, where the UK identified a number of substantive concerns, including the potential impact on national security, the extension of external competence and the need for safeguards such as the emergency brake. These concerns remain as valid now as they were then.
	It is, as yet, unclear whether the Finnish presidency will bring forward further work in this area during their presidency but the Government considers the current debate to be over and that we should instead focus on practical measures in the current JHA agenda. We will keep Parliament informed of any developments.

Extradition

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many requests for extradition from the UK to the US have been made in each of the last five years; and how many  (a) were successful,  (b) were unsuccessful and  (c) remain outstanding.

John Reid: Figures are given in the table. Rather than use terms like "successful" with reference to extradition requests, we show the number of cases which have resulted in surrenders and the number which have closed for other reasons. The figure does not include requests from Ministers in Scotland and Northern Ireland, who have devolved powers to make or grant requests.
	
		
			  England and Wales requests to U.S. 2001 to 2005 
			   Total  Surrenders  Closed without surrender  Outstanding from the year 
			 2001 4 2 1 1 
			 2002 9 3 4 2 
			 2003 5 3 2 - 
			 2004 2 2 — — 
			 2005 7 1 2 4

Extradition

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals the UK has  (a) successfully and  (b) unsuccessfully attempted to extradite from the United States since 1997 in cases where all proceedings are complete, broken down by type of charge.

Joan Ryan: These figures only apply to England and Wales, as Scotland and Northern Ireland make their own extradition requests. Since 1997, 33 individuals have been successfully extradited from the US. In addition to this, the subject of one extradition request to the US was arrested in New Zealand and 15 extradition requests have been withdrawn by the UK's prosecuting authorities. The table gives an annual breakdown of the numbers returned, requests withdrawn and the offences concerned in each case.
	
		
			  UK extradition requests to the U.S. 
			   Extradited 
			   Offence  Number 
			 1997 Obtaining Property by Deception, Conspiracy to Obtain Property by Deception, False Accounting and Conspiracy to Defraud; 6 
			  Murder (x2)  
			  Sexual Offences  
			  Drug Offences  
			  Furnishing False Information and Procuring the Execution of a Valuable Security by Deception  
			
			 1998 Theft 5 
			  Drug Offences (x2)  
			  Causing Death by Reckless driving; Furnishing False Information  
			
			 1999 Murder (x2) 2 
			
			 2000 Threats to Kill; Child Abduction. 2 
			
			 2001 Child Abduction (x2) 3 
			  Tax Evasion  
			
			 2002 Rape 3 
			  Murder  
			  Fraud  
			
			 2003 Drug Offences 2 
			  Murder  
			
			 2004 Kidnap and Child Abduction 4 
			  Drugs  
			  Sex Offences (x2)  
			
			 2005 Burglary 1 
			
			 2006 Child Abduction 4 
			  Manslaughter  
			  Murder  
			  Obtaining a Money Transfer by Deception  
		
	
	
		
			   Withdrawn  
			   Offence  Number 
			 1997 Child Abduction 2 
			  Making a False Statement (Contrary to Companies Act 1985)  
			
			 1998 Money Laundering 1 
			 1999 Dishonestly Handling Stolen Goods 3 
			  Theft  
			  Child Abduction  
			
			 2000 Blackmail 2 
			  Kidnapping and Assault  
			  Drunk on an Aircraft  
			
			 2001 Theft 1 
			
			 2002 — 0 
			
			 2003 Murder 3 
			  Tax Offences  
			  Fiscal Offences  
			
			 2004 Fraud 3 
			  Murder  
			  Theft, Handling Stolen Goods  
			
			 2005 Drug offences 1 
			
			 2006 Forgery and Obtaining Property by Deception 1

Firearms

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many  (a) handguns were confiscated and  (b) convictions there were for the possession of handguns in each police authority area in each of the last eight years.

Tony McNulty: Data from HMRC for the number of illegal weapons including handguns seized by HM Customs and Excise for the years 1997 to 2003 in England and Wales can be found in the following table.
	For the years 2004-05, please refer to the following website link:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/reports.htm
	Figures for the number of firearms seized by police forces are not collected centrally.
	Data from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform for the number of convictions for possession of a firearm, by police force area 1997 to 2004 can be found in the following table.
	Data held by the court proceedings database is unable to separately identify the type of firearm possession.
	Data for 2005 will be available in mid November.
	
		
			  Number of illegal weapons seized by HM Customs and Excise 
			  Year ended 31 March  Hand guns  Rifles  Shotguns  Self defence sprays  Stun guns  Total 
			 1997 264 268 32 3,452 120 4,136 
			 1998 333 174 362 4,248 344 5,461 
			 1999 83 106 51 2,343 106 2,689 
			 2000 417 95 129 1,169 101 1,911 
			 2001 163 48 44 2,428 114 2,797 
			 2002 304 111 219 1,237 144 2,015 
			 2003 126 102 36 866 255 1,385 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of defendants found guilty of various firearm( 1)  offences at all courts, by police force area in England and Wale  1997 to 2004( 2, 3, 4) 
			  Police force area  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004 
			 Avon and Somerset 70 60 35 38 57 38 47 44 
			 Bedfordshire 18 14 7 10 13 22 15 20 
			 Cambridgeshire 21 31 28 19 11 17 22 11 
			 Cheshire 31 18 20 32 21 19 17 23 
			 City of London 2 4 1 1 3 5 3 5 
			 Cleveland 27 20 15 18 15 16 19 23 
			 Cumbria 16 27 17 20 22 13 21 25 
			 Derbyshire 36 24 51 40 33 30 27 54 
			 Devon and Cornwall 54 44 50 30 38 37 39 39 
			 Dorset 12 17 16 19 16 16 18 22 
			 Durham 35 38 29 31 18 16 24 32 
			 Essex 61 62 40 43 29 39 44 47 
			 Gloucestershire 28 28 10 16 17 20 16 20 
			 Greater Manchester 131 153 143 132 153 133 135 176 
			 Hampshire 66 45 48 40 35 53 51 53 
			 Hertfordshire 24 21 16 31 26 15 21 25 
			 Humberside 28 36 27 23 31 34 32 46 
			 Kent 42 66 52 45 53 48 50 51 
			 Lancashire 64 61 38 52 37 40 41 52 
			 Leicestershire 37 50 33 55 47 26 42 35 
			 Lincolnshire 23 31 21 29 29 22 16 32 
			 Merseyside 53 56 41 32 44 52 50 77 
			 Metropolitan police 388 391 337 290 349 431 485 386 
			 Norfolk 30 30 25 18 18 26 12 31 
			 North Yorkshire 46 55 28 29 27 12 18 16 
			 Northamptonshire 15 14 25 19 12 13 10 19 
			 Northumbria 99 84 103 88 123 78 91 95 
			 Nottinghamshire 40 65 39 44 39 44 63 44 
			 South Yorkshire 55 58 69 58 45 64 61 88 
			 Staffordshire 30 39 22 (4)— 36 40 36 26 
			 Suffolk 19 11 18 18 18 15 25 34 
			 Surrey 10 12 8 15 18 18 17 19 
			 Sussex 34 26 26 23 30 21 30 35 
			 Thames Valley 64 60 57 27 34 45 39 44 
			 Warwickshire 21 14 14 11 17 12 10 15 
			 West Mercia 35 26 30 16 38 31 25 32 
			 West Midlands 149 144 139 135 139 148 152 132 
			 West Yorkshire 97 115 94 74 66 79 70 119 
			 Wiltshire 5 13 19 15 19 20 13 13 
			 Dyfed-Powys 33 24 18 19 14 19 27 20 
			 Gwent 14 22 12 28 18 17 24 26 
			 North Wales 35 27 19 21 12 14 18 27 
			 South Wales 51 44 60 49 49 34 56 46 
			 Total 2,149 2,180 1,900 1,753 1,869 1,892 2,032 2,179 
			 (1) Includes the following:Using firearms or imitation firearms to resist arrest.Possessing firearms or imitation fire arm at time of committing or being arrested for an offence specified in schedule 1 of the Act.Possession of a firearm or imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.Possession of a firearm or imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.Possession of offensive weapons without lawful authority or reasonable excuse on school premises.Possessing etc firearm or ammunition without firearm certificate.Possessing etc shot gun without certificate.Possessing or distributing prohibited weapons or ammunition.Carrying loaded firearm in public place etc.Possession of firearms by persons previously convicted of crime.Possession of firearms by persons previously convicted of crime.Possession of firearms by persons previously convicted of crime.Carrying loaded firearm in public place etc.Person under 17 having with him an air weapon in a public place.(2 )These data are on the principal offence basis.(3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the police forces and courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.(4) Staffordshire police force were only able to submit sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table. Source:RDS-Office for Criminal Justice Reform.Our Reference: PQ 224-06

Foreign Prisoners

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether  (a) illegal immigrants and  (b) foreign national prisoners are (i) DNA tested and (ii) fingerprinted before being deported.

Liam Byrne: Immigration legislation does not provide any powers to take DNA samples from individuals. Under provisions in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984, police officers may take a DNA sample from any person arrested or charged in connection with a recordable offence. Section 141 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (as amended) provides a power for authorised persons to take fingerprints from any person in respect of whom a relevant immigration decision has been made. This includes the decision to remove an illegal entrant and the decision to deport. When serving a decision notice on an illegal entrant, the immigration officer will check against existing Immigration fingerprint records and if there is no trace he or she will fingerprint the individual. In the case of foreign national prisoners, fingerprints will have been taken at an earlier stage under police powers at the point of charging for the criminal offence.

Foreign Prisoners

Gwyn Prosser: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the foreign prisoners released without being deported had been held in prisons or detention centres in Kent; and how many of them are unaccounted for.

Liam Byrne: The Director General of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate wrote to the Home Affairs Select Committee on 29 June and set out, in line with the Home Secretary's requirements, the most accurate data the Department currently holds on the 1013 foreign national prisoner cohort released without due deportation consideration.

Gangmasters

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the involvement of gangmasters in  (a) people smuggling,  (b) illegal copying and selling of DVDs and  (c) other types of organised crime; and if he will make a statement.

Vernon Coaker: The Serious Organised Crime Agency have considered the threat posed by gangmasters to the UK in the context of organised immigration crime. The assessment is contained in the published UK Threat Assessment of Serious Organised Crime 2006-07. The assessment states that for many illegal workers in the UK a job is part of their facilitation package and criminal gangmasters are involved in finding work for illegal immigrants. The Gangmasters Licensing Authority began licensing the agricultural, horticultural, shellfish gathering, and associated processing industries in March 2006.
	There is no evidence to suggest that gangmasters are involved in illegal copying and selling of DVDs or any other types of organised crime. In order to ensure a joint industry and Government response to counterfeiting and piracy, the Government launched the National IP Crime Strategy in 2004. The Annual Enforcement Report, published by the Patent Office, sets out the range of action being taken by Government and industry bodies to tackle this problem.

Identity and Passport Service

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost will be of setting up the new identity and passport service office in Kendal.

Joan Ryan: holding answer 24 October 2006
	No estimate of costs for individual sites has been made. The Kendal interview office has not yet been delivered to IPS but the contract requires all premises to be made available by the end of 2006.
	The estimated costs of providing and running the 69 interview offices for the first year of operation (2006-07) are £58.32 million and with an annual running cost from 2009-10 of £29 million. All costs will be met from passport fees.

Identity Cards

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the proposed  (a) national identity card and  (b) biometric passport will utilise (i) RFID chips and (ii) proximity chips.

Joan Ryan: Proximity chips are being introduced into travel documents worldwide to fulfil international requirements established by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, a division of the United Nations. As both biometric passports and the proposed identity card are, or are intended to be, travel documents, they are required to comply with such requirements. It should be noted that the UK's new e-passport, over 2.5 million of which have now been issued, includes a proximity chip in order to meet ICAO requirements and to meet the conditions of the US Visa Waiver Programme.
	The chips being used in passports communicate with the passport reader using radio frequencies. However, use of the term "RFID chips" for these causes confusion as, for many people, "RFID" implies functionality found in "RFID Tags" which are low-security, passive devices, capable of being read by standard equipment at a distance of several metres. The chips used in passports are designed to capable of being read at distances of only a few centimetres and implement Basic Access Control in accordance with international standards. This requires the reader to scan optically information on the data page of the passport and pass this to the chip before the chip will communicate with the reader. Thus, it would not be possible for a reader to extract any data from the chip at a distance or if the reader had not been able to scan the passport's data page. RFID tags will not be utilised in either the biometric passport or the national identity card.
	In addition to Basic Access Control, proximity chips in the identity card and passport will use other cryptographic measures in order to prevent the information on the chip from being modified. It is also planned that further advanced encryption will be utilised to secure biometric information on the chip of the passport and card in the future. This will comply with Extended Access Control standards that are currently under development at an international level.

Immigration and Nationality Directorate

Martin Linton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many caseworkers have been employed by the immigration and nationality directorate to work on asylum applications in each year since 1997.

Liam Byrne: We are not able to provide the information in the format requested. Staffing numbers are recorded by grade, location and work area. As the grade and responsibilities of caseworkers has changed over time, we are not able to accurately establish the number of caseworkers from this data.

Immigration and Nationality Directorate

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many personnel were employed by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate to process deportation orders in  (a) 2001,  (b) 2002,  (c) 2003,  (d) 2004,  (e) 2005 and  (f) the last period for which figures are available.

John Reid: The number of employees engaged on processing deportation orders is not disaggregated from the overall number of employees within the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) and therefore not readily available. Any attempt to calculate the number of employees involved in processing deportation orders in each of the last five years would need to take into account a large number of factors and this could be done only at disproportionate cost.
	However one of the main functions of the Criminal Casework Directorate (CCD) within IND is to process deportation orders for foreign national prisoners. The average number of full time equivalent employees in this area from when the figures are available from 2002-03 during each of the past four financial years is as follows:
	
		
			   Number 
			 2002-03 24 
			 2003-04 32 
			 2004-05 54 
			 2005-06 94.5

Immigration and Nationality Directorate

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of the decisions made by staff at the Immigration and Nationality Directorate Public Enquiry Office in Croydon were subject to quality assurance checks in each year since 1997.

John Reid: The number of cases sampled in the Public Enquiry Office during the period January 2006 to 23 May 2006 was 3.6 per cent. of completed cases. This compares to 1.7 per cent. of cases sampled for the period May 2005-December 2005.
	There are no formal records for the number of cases sampled in the Public Enquiry Office prior to May 2005. Prior to this date cases were cleared by a supervisor, but no central record was maintained.

Immigration and Nationality Directorate

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum applicants were interviewed in the course of the Gbedemah Inquiry.

John Reid: The PEO does not deal with asylum applicants. No asylum applicants were interviewed in the course of the Gbedemah Inquiry, which investigated allegations about practices within the Public Inquiry Office in Croydon.

Knives (Hendon)

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many knives were recovered as part of the recent amnesty by Barnet police.

Tony McNulty: This information is not available centrally. Figures for the number of items surrendered to the police during the knife amnesty which ran from 24 May to 30 June 2006 have been collated at police force level. A total of 89,864 items were surrendered in England and Wales.
	The Metropolitan police reported that 9145 knives and other sharp instruments were handed in to them.

Ministerial Visits

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which prisons Ministers in his Department have visited in each year since 1997; and for what purposes.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I am placing in the Library a list of the visits to prisons by Home Office Ministers since 1 May 1997. Ministers visit prisons for a variety of reasons: including general familiarisation; attending the launch of an initiative or opening of a new building or wing; attending a meeting, such as the Suicide Prevention Round-table; or attending a religious service. Information on the purpose of each individual visit is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Open Prisons

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have absconded from Leyhill Open Prison in each month since November 2005, broken down by offence; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The information provided in the following table.
	
		
			  Absconds from Leyhill Open Prison November 2005-October 2006( 1) 
			  Month/year  Offence  Total 
			  2005   
			 November Supplying drugs 4 
			  Possession drugs with intent to supply  
			  Robbery  
			  Conspiracy to commit theft  
			
			 December Robbery x 5 9 
			  Rape  
			  Blackmail  
			  Possession drugs  
			  Burglary  
			
			  2006   
			 January Arson 4 
			  Grievous Bodily Harm  
			  Burglary  
			  Robbery  
			
			 February Theft 2 
			  Robbery  
			
			 March Possession of firearm with intent to endanger life 2 
			  Murder  
			
			 April Burglary 2 
			  Robbery  
			 May Burglary 1 
			
			 June Burglary x 2 2 
			
			 July — 0 
			
			 August Burglary x 2 3 
			  Robbery  
			
			 September Burglary x 2 2 
			
			 October( )(to 24 October 2006) Driving while disqualified x 2 6 
			  Robbery x 3  
			  Fraud and deception  
			  Note:Data from April 2006 to October 2006 is provisional

Operation Scully

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what estimate he has made of the total cost of Operation Scully from its commencement to  (a) 30 June 2006 and  (b) 31 July 2006;

Unknown: The answer is missing - TheyWorkForYou

Passports

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many passport applications were received in each month between June 2004 and July 2005.

John Reid: The number of passport applications received by the Identity and Passport Service for the period June 2004 to July 2005, inclusive, are in the table.
	
		
			  Month/Year  Passport applications received 
			 June 2004 680,001 
			 July 2004 616,776 
			 August 2004 460,284 
			 September 2004 423,836 
			 October 2004 348,150 
			 November 2004 332,461 
			 December 2004 227,766 
			 January 2005 533,491 
			 February 2005 598,999 
			 March 2005 640,670 
			 April 2005 730,206 
			 May 2005 696,864 
			 June 2005 741,492 
			 July 2005 623,153

Persistent and Prolific Offenders

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persistent and prolific offenders have been identified in each police force area in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

John Reid: The following table gives a breakdown of the number of offenders on Prolific and other Priority Offenders (PPO) schemes in each police force area across England and Wales. The data was extracted from J-Track (the PPO tracking database) in June 2006.
	
		
			  Police force area  Number of PPOs in June 2006 
			 Avon and Somerset 240 
			 Bedfordshire 137 
			 Cambridgeshire 102 
			 Cheshire 174 
			 Cleveland 132 
			 Cumbria 74 
			 Derbyshire 368 
			 Devon and Cornwall 405 
			 Dorset 208 
			 Durham 53 
			 Dyfed-Powys 78 
			 Essex 245 
			 Gloucestershire 97 
			 Greater Manchester 740 
			 Gwent 81 
			 Hampshire 230 
			 Hertfordshire 180 
			 Humberside 184 
			 Kent County 311 
			 Lancashire 391 
			 Leicestershire 364 
			 Lincolnshire 196 
			 London 1147 
			 Merseyside 384 
			 Norfolk 138 
			 North Wales 120 
			 North Yorkshire 77 
			 Northamptonshire 212 
			 Northumbria 212 
			 Nottinghamshire 554 
			 South Wales 206 
			 South Yorkshire 243 
			 Staffordshire 223 
			 Suffolk 170 
			 Surrey 186 
			 Sussex 348 
			 Thames Valley 347 
			 Warwickshire 74 
			 West Mercia 124 
			 West Midlands 749 
			 West Yorkshire 295 
			 Wiltshire 72 
			 Total 10,871 
		
	
	The following table gives a breakdown of the numbers of offenders on Prolific and other Priority Offender (PPO) schemes in each police force area across England and Wales. The data was extracted from J-Track (the PPO tracking database) in June 2005.
	
		
			  Police force area  Number of PPOs in June 2005 
			 Avon and Somerset 227 
			 Bedfordshire 115 
			 Cambridgeshire 94 
			 Cheshire 183 
			 Cleveland 93 
			 Cumbria 70 
			 Derbyshire 354 
			 Devon and Cornwall 352 
			 Dorset 216 
			 Durham 47 
			 Dyfed-Powys 88 
			 Essex 195 
			 Gloucestershire 91 
			 Greater Manchester 564 
			 Gwent 72 
			 Hampshire 225 
			 Hertfordshire 231 
			 Humberside 117 
			 Kent County 390 
			 Lancashire 417 
			 Leicestershire 329 
			 Lincolnshire 104 
			 London 1,112 
			 Merseyside 363 
			 Norfolk 121 
			 North Wales 148 
			 North Yorkshire 73 
			 Northamptonshire 133 
			 Northumbria 184 
			 Nottinghamshire 482 
			 South Wales 199 
			 South Yorkshire 190 
			 Staffordshire 136 
			 Suffolk 167 
			 Surrey 276 
			 Sussex 268 
			 Thames Valley 327 
			 Warwickshire 72 
			 West Mercia 119 
			 West Midlands 685 
			 West Yorkshire 305 
			 Wiltshire 82 
			 Total 10,016 
		
	
	Data is not available for 2004.

Police

Greg Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average cost of a fully-trained  (a) police constable and  (b) police community support officer was in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Tony McNulty: The average estimated cost of employing a police officer (sergeant and constable) in 2005 was approximately £45,500. This estimate includes all pay related costs including overtime payments and employer national insurance contributions. It also makes an allowance for notional employer pension contributions.
	Salary and other terms and conditions for police community support officers (PCSOs), as with all police (civilian) staff are determined by the respective police authority. We do not routinely maintain data on PCSO salaries. The most recent data we have on PCSO salary costs and allowances is contained in a report by Accenture on terms and conditions for PCSOs, which was published on 3 February. The report provides a range of data on basic pay rates and allowances from 2004-05 paid to PCSOs and an analysis of the variations between forces. The report found that the typical (unweighted) average salary for PCSOs was £17,200 and the average total cash reward (basic salary plus allowances and overtime) was £20,500. The report is available on the Home Office website:
	http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/community-policing/community-support-officers/
	Employers national insurance is an additional 11 per cent. The average pension contribution between police authorities is not available for 2004-05 but estimated in 2005-06 to be 14.2 per cent.

Prisons

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the maximum capacity is of each  (a) closed prison and  (b) young offender institution; how many inmates there are in each; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The information requested, as at 21 July 2006, is set out in the tables.
	
		
			  Closed adult prisons 
			  Prison name  Operational capacity  Population 
			 Acklington 854 840 
			 Albany 527 516 
			 Altcourse 1,024 1013 
			 Ashwell 545 540 
			 Bedford 494 479 
			 Belmarsh 905 917 
			 Birmingham 1,450 1,447 
			 Blakenhurst 1,070 1,067 
			 Blantyre House 122 122 
			 Blundeston 464 462 
			 Brinsford 489 479 
			 Bristol 606 594 
			 Brixton 798 807 
			 Brockhill 150 2 
			 Bronzefield 450 426 
			 Buckley Hall 385 378 
			 Bullingdon 963 961 
			 Bullwood Hall 184 91 
			 Camp Hill 585 585 
			 Canterbury 284 282 
			 Cardiff 754 752 
			 Castington 410 401 
			 Channings Wood 667 663 
			 Chelmsford 575 569 
			 Coldingley 392 390 
			 Cookham Wood 185 177 
			 Dartmoor 625 615 
			 Doncaster 1,120 1,114 
			 Dorchester 256 229 
			 Dovegate 860 824 
			 Down view 358 338 
			 Durham 921 874 
			 Eastwood Park 362 339 
			 Edmunds Hill 371 363 
			 Elmley 985 984 
			 Erlestoke 426 423 
			 Everthorpe 681 673 
			 Exeter 533 513 
			 Featherstone 615 608 
			 Forest Bank 1,064 1,049 
			 Foston Hall 274 224 
			 Frankland 734 713 
			 Full Sutton 588 571 
			 Garth 619 607 
			 Gartree 575 505 
			 Gloucester 323 311 
			 Grendon 235 225 
			 Guys Marsh 505 505 
			 Haverigg 568 559 
			 Highdown 707 683 
			 Highpoint 816 811 
			 Holloway 493 468 
			 Holme House 994 992 
			 Hull 1,000 1,000 
			 Kingston 194 190 
			 Kirklevington 223 219 
			 Lancaster 243 239 
			 Lancaster Farms 277 280 
			 Latchmere House 207 190 
			 Leeds 1,150 1,172 
			 Leicester 385 329 
			 Lewes 558 517 
			 Lincoln 490 482 
			 Lindholme 762 765 
			 Littlehey 706 696 
			 Liverpool 1,377 1,314 
			 Long Lartin 444 441 
			 Low Newton 310 281 
			 Lowdham Grange 524 520 
			 Maidstone 589 587 
			 Manchester 1,269 1,230 
			 Morton Hall 392 382 
			 Mount 720 719 
			 New Hall 443 373 
			 Norwich 644 580 
			 Nottingham 510 510 
			 Parc 630 607 
			 Parkhurst 493 471 
			 Pentonville 1,127 1,128 
			 Peterborough 840 816 
			 Preston 690 662 
			 Ranby 1,038 1,036 
			 Risley 1,073 1,065 
			 Rye Hill 600 593 
			 Send 218 211 
			 Shepton Mallet 189 185 
			 Shrewsbury 340 341 
			 Stafford 676 680 
			 Stocken 622 616 
			 Styal 469 445 
			 Swaleside 778 780 
			 Swansea 428 431 
			 Swinfen Hall 240 255 
			 Usk 250 246 
			 Verne 587 586 
			 Wakefield 751 736 
			 Wandsworth 1,459 1,468 
			 Wayland 709 700 
			 Wellingborough 614 604 
			 Wetherby 363 329 
			 Whatton 761 661 
			 Whitemoor 458 435 
			 Winchester 697 713 
			 Wolds 300 287 
			 Woodhill 652 676 
			 Wormwood Scrubs 1,239 1,239 
			 Wymott 1,046 1,045 
		
	
	This includes all closed prisons, including both male and female. Some closed prisons hold YO's in separate, dedicated YO units.
	On occasions prisons are listed as having populations higher than their operational capacity. The reason for this is most often attributed to the fact prisoners are absent on authorised absences.
	
		
			  Young offender institutes( 1) 
			  HMYOI  Operational capacity  Population( 2) 
			 Ashfield 380 373 
			 Askham Grange 128 115 
			 Aylesbury 444 443 
			 Brinsford 489 468 
			 Castington 410 359 
			 Chelmsford 132 132 
			 Deerbolt 458 421 
			 Feltham 764 613 
			 Glen Parva 808 806 
			 Guys Marsh 73 73 
			 Hindley 455 435 
			 Huntercombe 368 357 
			 Lancaster Farms 277 280 
			 Moorland 385 419 
			 Northallerton 252 238 
			 Norwich 180 181 
			 Onley 180 187 
			 Pare 406 426 
			 Portland 524 499 
			 Reading 297 276 
			 Rochester 392 390 
			 Stoke Heath 688 661 
			 Swinfen Hall 380 356 
			 Thorn Cross 321 216 
			 Warren Hill 222 216 
			 Werrington 162 155 
			 Wetherby 363 329 
			 (1) Some YOIs hold juveniles as well as Young Offenders.(2) As at 1 June 2006.

Prisons

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what dates the contracts to build  (a) HMP Altcourse,  (b) HMP Ashfield,  (c) HMP Dovegate,  (d) HMP Forest Bank,  (e) HMP Lowdham Grange,  (f) HMP Parc,  (g) HMP Rye Hill,  (h) HMP Bronzefield and  (i) HMP Peterborough were let; and when each is or was expected to be handed over to the Prison Service for occupancy by inmates.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The information requested is shown in the table. The land upon which the prisons are built is leased to the contractor and expires on expiry of the operating contract, which runs for 25 years from the opening of the prison (i.e. the receipt of the first prisoners).
	
		
			  Prison  Date of contract signature (contract let)  Date of receiving first prisoners 
			 Altcourse 20 December 1995 1 December 1997 
			 Ashfield 29 June 1998 1 November 1999 
			 Dovegate 24 September 1999 9 July 2001 
			 Forest Bank 1 July 1998 20 January 2000 
			 Lowdham Grange 7 November 1996 16 February 1998 
			 Parc 4 January 1996 17 November 1997 
			 Rye Hill 22 July 1999 21 January 2001 
			 Bronzefield 20 December 2002 17 June 2004 
			 Peterborough 14 February 2003 28 March 2005

Prisons

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he has taken to ensure that escaped prisoners from Leyhill open prison are apprehended; how many prisoners are still at large; and for what offences they were convicted.

Gerry Sutcliffe: holding answer 12 October 2006
	When a prisoner absconds from an open prison the police are notified and the prisoner's details entered on the police national computer as being unlawfully at large and subject to immediate arrest.
	Leyhill prison have advised that between 1 April and 10 October this year 12 prisoners absconded. Three of these remain unlawfully at large, of whom two were convicted of robbery and one of burglary.

Prisons

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 4 September 2006,  Official Report, column 1901W, on prison/escort services, what criteria were used in the  (a) old and  (b) new escort contracts to determine the timely arrival of prisoners to courts.

John Reid: Under the old escort contracts, each court had a specific time by which all prisoners scheduled to appear that day should be delivered to the court. This was generally 09:30 hours.
	Under the current contracts, which stared on 29 August, contractors are required to deliver prisoners by:
	The designated ready and available for court time (DRACT). This means that prisoners are ready and available 30 minutes before the court sits, having had an opportunity to meet their legal advisor;
	11:30 hours, where the court has scheduled, listed or indicate on a warrant a court appearance after 12:00 hours for a particular prisoner's case; or
	a time agreed with the court on those occasions where a prisoner is being taken to a court at some distance from the prison in which they are being held.

Prisons

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many nutritionists are employed in  (a) prisons and  (b) young offenders institutes in England.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The information requested is not held centrally.
	HM Prison Service offers nutrition and health training courses for staff, leading to a formal qualification from the Royal Institute of Public Health. Since this was introduced in 2002, approximately 300 staff have successfully passed the course. Some establishments also involve the local hospital dietician in their menu planning.
	All prison establishments aim to offer a range of foods that enable prisoners to make healthy eating choices and the overall standard of prison food was recently recognised by the National Audit Office in its report 'HM Prison Service—Serving Time: Prisoner Diet and Exercise' (March 2006). They reported that
	'on the whole, food offered to prisoners is in line with the Government's recommendations on healthy eating'.

Prisons

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff employed by the prison service  (a) directly and I indirectly have (i) resigned and (ii) been sacked for failure to meet professional standards in each of the last 24 months; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: holding answer 25 October 2006
	The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Proceeds of Crime Act

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of cases in which the Asset Recovery Agency has used its powers to seize tainted gifts under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 since its establishment.

Vernon Coaker: The Assets Recovery Agency do not hold information in this form.

Proscribed Organisations (Terrorists)

Si�n Simon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the criteria are for placing a terrorist group on his Department's list of proscribed organisations.

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria are used for including a group on the List of Proscribed Groups.

Tony McNulty: Section 3 of the Terrorism Act 2000 provides a power for the Home Secretary to proscribe an organisation which he believes is concerned in terrorism. This is done by adding the organisation to Schedule 2 of the Terrorism Act 2000 which lists proscribed organisations. An organisation is concerned in terrorism if it commits or participates in acts of terrorism, prepares for terrorism, promotes or encourages terrorism or is otherwise concerned in terrorism. This power was extended by section 21 of the Terrorism Act 2006 to include those organisations which glorify the commission or preparation of acts of terrorism. Glorification includes any form of praise or celebration of acts of terrorism. When deciding on whether to make an Order proscribing a group a number of additional factors are taken into account and these were published in 2001. They are the nature and scale of an organisation's activities, the specific threat that it poses to the United Kingdom, the specific threat that it poses to British national overseas, the organisations presence in the United Kingdom and the need to support other members of the international community in their fight against terrorism.

Rehabilitation of Offenders Act

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will introduce the reforms recommended by the report of the review of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

John Reid: The Government have accepted the majority of the review's recommendations and will legislate when parliamentary time allows.
	We are also considering what might be necessary for the disclosure regime in the light of the Bichard Report which dealt with criminal records in the context of the protection of children and vulnerable adults.

Road Safety

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what total amount in motoring fines was levied in each of the last five years, broken down by  (a) region and  (b) local authority area.

Tony McNulty: Information taken from the Court Proceedings Database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform on the total amount of motoring fines ordered to be paid broken down by Government office region in England and Wales from 2000 to 2004 (latest available) is given in the table. The figures relate only to fines imposed by the courts. Data are not available at local authority area level.
	2005 data will be available early in 2007.
	
		
			  Total amount of court imposed fines for motoring offences, by Government office region, England and Wales, 2000-04 
			   million 
			  Government office region  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004 
			 North East 4.5 4.3 4.0 3.9 4.2 
			 North West 20.1 15.9 15.4 17.7 18.0 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 10.3 9.1 8.1 10.3 12.7 
			 East Midlands 10.3 9.6 9.9 13.1 14.4 
			 West Midlands 13.5 11.4 13.1 15.1 16.7 
			 East 10.6 9.5 10.2 11.2 12.0 
			 London 12.5 11.5 11.9 13.9 15.7 
			 South East 16.3 14.9 15.4 16.8 17.1 
			 South West 11 10.4 11.1 13.2 13.6 
			 Wales 7.2 6.1 6.9 7.8 7.8 
			 Total England and Wales 116.3 102.5 106.0 123.1 132.2 
			  Note:Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

Sex Offenders Register

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people who were placed on the sex offenders register were found to be missing in each month since the register was introduced.

Gerry Sutcliffe: This data is not collected centrally in the format requested and could be collated only at disproportionate cost. Once an offender has registered with the police, the level of monitoring, for example home visits, will be determined via a risk assessment. Procedures are in place to ensure that registered sex offenders who are not at the address given are followed up.

Under-age Drinking

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convictions there were for under-age drinking in  (a) each Government Office region and  (b) each London borough in (i) 2004 and (ii) 2005.

Vernon Coaker: There is no specific offence of under age drinking. However, the following table shows data from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform and details the number of defendants aged 10-17 found guilty at all courts for offences related to drunkenness in 2004. This is broken down as requested. Data for 2005 will be available in the autumn. In addition to this, the penalty notice for disorder (PND) scheme, brought into effect in all police forces in England and Wales in 2004, gives the police powers to issue fixed penalty notices to persons aged 16-17 believed to be committing offences of drunkenness. No admission of guilt is required and payment of the penalty discharges all liability for the offence. Data on the number of PNDs issued to 16-17 year olds for under-age drinking in 2004, as well as provisional data for 2005, are also provided broken down by region. It is not possible to identify the number of PNDs issued in each London borough as the data is not collected at that level of detail centrally.
	
		
			  Number of penalty notices for disorder issued to 16-17 year olds for offences related to drunkenness, 2004 and 2005 provisional data( 1) 
			   2004  2005 (provisional data) 
			   Drunk and disorderly  Drunk in highway  Consuming alcohol in a designated public place  Underage consumption of alcohol on licensed premises  Drunk and disorderly  Drunk in highway  Consuming alcohol in a designated public place  Underage consumption of alcohol on licensed premises 
			 North East 44  1  61  2  
			 East midlands 81 1 1  121 4 4 6 
			 West midlands 129 2 1  116 7 3 4 
			 Eastern 78 2  2 87 7 3  
			 Yorkshire and Humberside 228 3  5 224 2 2 8 
			 North West 494 6 15  689 24 18 15 
			 South West 32 1 1  84 6 2 2 
			 London 55 6   61 10 3 - 
			 South East 115 6   247 8  1 
			 Wales 72 4 1  117 6 1 5 
			 England and Wales 1,328 31 20 7 1,807 74 38 41 
			 (1 )Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by police forces As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

Unpaid Parking Fines

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what sum remains unpaid for parking fines incurred by those with diplomatic immunity during each of the last three years; and how much, and what proportion, is owed by each diplomatic mission accredited to the Court of St. James.

Tony McNulty: The information is not collected by my Department. The figures for 2005 are currently being collected. They will be available in the autumn when the FCO will report to parliament by means of a written ministerial statement providing details about those diplomatic missions in London which have unpaid fines for parking, non-payment of the congestion charge, or other traffic violations.
	
		
			  Unpaid parking and minor traffic violation fines, 2003diplomatic vehicles10 or fewer fines 
			   Final figures 
			  Diplomatic mission/international organisation  Number of fines outstanding  Amount () 
			 Ethiopia 10 1,000.00 
			 Lebanon 10 1,000.00 
			 Indonesia 10 920.00 
			 Congo (DRC) 9 700.00 
			 Slovak Republic 9 680.00 
			 Barbados 9 480.00 
			 Mongolia 8 800.00 
			 Nicaragua 8 800.00 
			 Chile 8 690.00 
			 Albania 8 650.00 
			 Bosnia and Herzegovinia 8 580.00 
			 Nepal 7 560.00 
			 Kyrgyzstan 6 550.00 
			 Mexico 6 540.00 
			 Korea (S) 5 500.00 
			 Mauritania 5 500.00 
			 Peru 5 500.00 
			 South Africa 5 500.00 
			 Belize 5 400.00 
			 Netherlands 5 380.00 
			 Gabon 4 400.00 
			 Tonga 4 400.00 
			 Swaziland 4 280.00 
			 Commonwealth Secretariat 4 200.00 
			 Finland 3 300.00 
			 Luxembourg 3 300.00 
			 Sri Lanka 3 300.00 
			 Trinidad and Tobago 3 260.00 
			 Czech Republic 3 250.00 
			 Guyana 3 250.00 
			 Honduras 3 250.00 
			 Botswana 3 240.00 
			 Benin 3 110.00 
			 Dominican Republic 2 200.00 
			 European Bank 2 200.00 
			 Iceland 2 200.00 
			 Lesotho 2 200.00 
			 Bahamas 2 160.00 
			 Singapore 2 140.00 
			 Bolivia 2 100.00 
			 Columbia 2 90.00 
			 Armenia 1 100.00 
			 Burma 1 100.00 
			 Croatia 1 100.00 
			 Estonia 1 100.00 
			 International Cocoa Org 1 100.00 
			 International Coffee Org 1 100.00 
			 Israel 1 100.00 
			 Mauritius 1 100.00 
			 Monaco 1 100.00 
			 Papua New Guinea 1 100.00 
			 Slovenia 1 100.00 
			 Uruguay 1 100.00 
			 Canada 1 60.00 
			 Serbia and Montenegro 1 60.00 
			 Guatemala 1 50.00 
			 Cote d'lvoire 1 40.00 
			 Total 221 18,970.00 
		
	
	
		
			  Table A: The total amounts of unpaid parking fines owed by the diplomatic missions and international organisations in the United Kingdom that have remained outstanding for 2002, 2003 and 2004 
			   Amounts remaining () 
			 2002 213,479.00 
			 2003 350,170.00 
			 2004 361,830.00 
			  Source:Protocol Directorate, FCO

Visa Extensions

Douglas Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many visa extensions have been granted to those from  (a) Russia and  (b) the Ukraine issued with student visas in each of the past five years.

Liam Byrne: The requested figures are set out in the Command Paper Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom publication for the years 2000 to 2004.
	2005 figures will be published on 22 August 2006, and may be obtained from the Library of the House and from the Home Office website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html
	
		
			  Grants of extension of leave to remain( 1)  in the United Kingdom, excluding EEA nationals and Switzerland, students by selected nationalities, 2000 to 2004( 2) , United Kingdom 
			   Number of grants 
			  Nationality  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004( 2) 
			 All nationalities (excluding EEA and Switzerland)(3) 70,620 83,180 121,655 184,770 149,325 
			  Of which:  
			 Russia 490 595 845 1,375 1,210 
			 Ukraine 1,670 2,425 2,750 2,510 1,320 
			 (1) Excludes dependants of principal applicants and the outcome of appeals.  (2) Provisional and subject to change.  (3) Includes the nationals of the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia before 1 May 2004, but excludes them from this date.   Note:  Figures rounded to the nearest 5.   Source: Immigration Research and Statistics Service.